Hello everyone, my name is Vanessa. about 5 months ago, I found out that I was having seizures in my front left and right temporal lobes. If I get some of the facts wrong or don't use the right technical terms, I apologize in advance. I really don't know too much about what is going on .. and that's after months of researching things online. I've asked the neurologist what type of seizures I am having and all he tells me is the temporal lobe line .. I don't convulse, or stare into space. He's acting under the assumption that I pass out and then quickly recover afterwards .. after having a seizure. Again.. no medical proof here .. just an assumption. But that's just background .. I have a serious problem and I really don't know if this is normal for someone that has seizures in that area of the brain or if this is just medicine related. So if anyone has any input .. please by all means share with me .. and I thank you in advance.

(By the way .. sorry for the run on sentences .. habit.)

To explain what I've been going through for the last 4-5 months:

I stay home as a housewife now .. and while walking through the house .. and through doorways .. I seem to usually tend to bump into the wall .. or if walking through a doorway .. run right into the corner of it. This happens about 4-5 times a day. Nothing really frustrating .. but something that has been happening to me for awhile now.

Another thing that my family and I have noticed .. while having a conversation with each other .. I tend to lose grasp of the most simple words .. for example .. I was asking my mother if she had read a certain book yet .. It took me 5 minutes to figure out what a book was called .. "book." This symptom quite more frustrating than the first .. but tolerable.

Now here is the most dangerous thing I've noticed .. two different examples:

I was cooking something on the stove .. daily routine here .. I have dinner ready by 5:30 every day .. The food in the pot was ready to be removed .. I reached over and grabbed the handle of the pot .. and burned myself pretty badly. No big deal .. it happens, right? Ran some cold water over my hand, dried it off and turned back around to the stove. Again .. reached for the handle and burned myself again. I actually did the same exact mistake .. three times that day.. within 10 minutes.

Even a more severe example .. I was baking some rolls. The rolls were golden and ready to be removed. I put the oven mitt on (I have a note above my stove now reminding me to put this on before touching anything .. just in case you know?) my left hand .. opened the oven .. *sighs* and reached into it with my right hand and grabbed the rack trying to pull it out with my unprotected hand.

I don't know if this is a normal thing for people with seizures. I don't know if this is just the medicine. But I have to admit to you guys .. I feel pretty low right now. I can't speak properly because I feel unintelligent when I can't find simple words .. and I'm doing things (the hot pans) more than once in a row.

Is this normal? I'm creating a list of questions to confront my neurologist with .. do you have any suggestions?

I'm sorry that this was a rambling long post .. I'm just very concerned =\

I am so sorry you are having such a rough go !!! I agree that talking to your neuro and asking him to be very clear is good!!

My son has both left frontal and either temporal or parietal based seizures on the right hemishere. When he has had a recent seizure, he will often do things like you mention, because he just is NOT thinking right at all. (he likes to cook eggs for instance. I have made a rule that he is NOT to cook on seizure days, he has melted TOO many spatulas and put plastic things on burners and things and watches it melt unable to figure out what he is doing!!)

I am so sorry you have had so many burns too! I would ask the neuro if the medication is doing this or if your seizures are that frequent that it is causing this. You might try doing more in microwave or crockpot cooking for a time to be a little safer?

Hang in there. The lingo and technical terms will come. I am concerned for you, though and you feeling safe...If you go to www.epilepsy.com and epilepsy 101 you might get some good info on TLE (Temporal Lobe Epilepsy) it can cause MANY odd things for sure....also look there at treatment and you can find good info on your medication....

I called the neuro doc yesterday (By the way .. he's like a cross of Richard Geare and George Clooney oo) and left a message with his nurse about what has been happening (..again) and will hopefully get a call back today when he gets back into the office .. or Tuesday .. I don't know Labor day is coming heh .. I also found a bunch of videos online .. yesterday after posting .. that has doctors explaining in simple terms what seizures are and medicines and the effects and what not.

And by the way .. I am no longer allowed to use the microwave .. was heating up some leftovers .. put the plate to my right (where you'd put the fork) and put the fork inside .. it's just been one of those .. rollercoaster of weirdness for me.

Well .. *sighs* .. the nurse returned the call for the doctor (that's the way it happens heh) .. she said that the doctor wants me to get blood work done asap .. and has increased .. yes that's right .. increased my daily dosage. =\